A difficult year for the prisoners

In Qaanaaq and those surrounding settlements Siorapaluk, Savissivik and Qeqertaq, have the business situation this year has been difficult and has affected prisoners and fishing families hard at the turn of the year.

According to Avannaata Municipality's business department in Qaanaaq, around 50 applications for temporary assistance have been submitted to the Department of Fisheries and Hunting.

Business in difficulties

According to David Qujaukitsoq, director of the business department in Qaanaaq in Avannaata Municipality, the business community in Qaanaaq and the surrounding settlements has had a difficult year, which has particularly affected families who make their living solely from fishing and hunting.

- This year, fewer cruise ships arrived than last year, which has resulted in lower tourism revenues.

- The ban on the export of hides, bones and skins limits the hunters' sales opportunities. At the same time, there are only a few sled dogs in the winter months, which means that there is a need to develop tourism and find new income opportunities.

- The fishing culture in and around Qaanaaq is one of the tourism activities that can be developed, but air traffic conditions often pose an obstacle, he says.

He says that climate change has also degraded the livelihoods of hunters and fishermen.

Many assistance applications

David Qujaukitsoq says that the difficult business conditions in Qaanaaq and the settlements have led about 50 fishing and hunting families to apply to the Department of Fisheries and Hunting for financial emergency assistance.

Climate change has led to a sharp decline in the inland halibut fishery, and although the fishery would normally have started by this time, it has not yet started.

This is one of the reasons why the number of applications for emergency aid this year has increased significantly compared to previous years, and we are still awaiting answers, he says.

Some trappers caught a few narwhals in early October, but most haven't had any income since, says DavidQujaukitsoq.

The lack of seals

There is no trading facility in Savissivik, and the seal skin revenue is the most important source of income for the hunter families. Climate change has meant that the ice is coming later, and although the hunt with nets over the ice is now underway, the seals have not yet really started. This year, the seal hunt has also been poor, says Ole Nielsen, a hunter in Savissivik.

- In previous years, the ice has been available at the end of October, but now only the coastal part has started to freeze over, and the catch is very limited, he says.

During this period, Ole Nielsen worked as a municipal water supply for the elderly, and his wife, Atugsuk Petersen Suersaq, had previously worked at the school. The couple has five children.

Fishing is in decline

Although fishing for halibut through the ice in Qaanaaq has previously been successful, fisherman and trapper Tobias Simigaq says that changes in sea ice in recent years have reduced fishing.

- Fishing has declined sharply this year, but walrus fishing is going well in the Qaanaaq area because there are many of them. However, they cannot constitute a full-year income, and therefore most hunter and fishing families have only had a modest income for a long time, says Tobias Simigaq.

According to Ujuut Olsen, director of the fish factory in Qaanaaq, which is owned by Inughuit Seafood and Royal Greenland, the purchase of narwhal food is slightly larger than last year, but only about 60 tons of halibut were landed.